Diamonds in Peace and War: Severing the Conflict-Diamond Connection

Abstract

Diamonds in Peace and War is the latest word on conflict diamonds and their contribution to the wars of middle Africa. The report grew out of a conference sponsored by the World Peace Foundation, the Project on Justice, the Carr Center, and the WPF Program on Intrastate Conflict at the Kennedy School of Government in late 2001. Although the conflict diamond problem is but a small part of the much larger world-wide trade in peaceful diamonds, it is the destructive and corrosive part. Tamm places conflict diamonds within this larger context, lays out the technical issues involved, and explores all aspects of the Kimberly Process—the unparalleled negotiating effort by industry, NGOs, and national governments that produced a standard method of differentiating clean from dirty diamonds. It also helped to produce pending U.S. legislation. Using diamonds to import arms and sponsor war is less likely now that the Kimberly Process has produced a near-final agreement. Diamonds in Peace and War is the place to learn all about this remarkably successful initiative of conflict prevention and conflict reduction.